1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a portable cooling system and, in particular, to a cooling system designed to surround a generally rectangular or square item such as a box container.
2. Related Art
Ice packs, such as the ice pack 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 (Prior Art), are common in the marketplace. Ice packs are plastic pouches that contain freezable non-toxic substances such as gel, water, saline, beads, beans, corn or chemical substances. Ice packs are commonly used to treat injuries or to keep food and/or beverages cold for long periods of time. Ice packs used to cool or maintain the temperature of food and beverages are generally sold as flat rectangular re-freezable packs. These re-freezable packs are sized to fit within lunch boxes, food containment systems or compartments therein. Some ice packs, such as the ice pack illustrated in FIG. 1, are sold in dividable cubes with vertically and horizontally positioned heat seals 104 and 106 respectively dividing the freezable substance contained in the plastic pouch into cubes 102. By dividing the freezable substance into cubes 102, the ice packs become more flexible and can be cut along the heat sealed seams 104 and 106 into smaller packs, if desired. These cubed ice packs 100 are approximately 5¾″×7¾″ filled and are advertised to have two-inch cubed water pockets 102. While the cubed pockets 102 allow the ice packs 100 to be more flexible, they are not flexible enough to effectively wrap around square objects or smaller objects, such as prisma containers.
Prisma containers 200 such as the ones shown in FIG. 2 (Prior Art) are becoming a more popular means for disseminating fluids for consumption such as milk, juice, wine and the like. While most of the liquids sold in prisma cartons 200 are ones that do not require refrigeration, many people desire to drink the content of prisma cartons 200 cold and only after refrigeration. This is especially true when the cartons 200 contain milk products. As prisma cartons 200 are designed as single serve cartons, they are often individually transported and stored for later consumption. In particular, prisma cartons 200 are especially useful for school lunches; however, maintaining the cartons 200 in a cold state is problematic. Currently, no cold packs exist that are designed to maintain single prisma containers 200 cold for extended periods of time. Accordingly, a need exists for a cold pack that maintains individual prisma cartons in a cold state when outside of the refrigerator.